Phil Bryant on Health Care

ObamaCare adds 300,000 entitlements; get people off Medicaid

The Affordable Care Act [has a large] potential impact on Mississippi. Any law that will add 300,000 Mississippians to a federal entitlement program partially funded by the state will either result in a huge tax increase or drastic cuts to education,
public safety, job creation and other budgets. It will leave our children and grandchildren with ballooning federal debt.

Instead of assuming enormous costs that we cannot afford, I would suggest that we spend our time and efforts in finding good
jobs for all Mississippians. We should be compassionate by lowering our Medicaid population through economic growth, personal responsibility, and providing more access to private sector health care.

To help us further develop our medical industry and identify ways to improve our personal health, I am pleased to announce the formation of the Mississippi Health Care Solutions Institute.

Expand MS School of Medicine; 1,000 new doctors by 2025

One essential health care step we must take is increasing the number of doctors in Mississippi. We know that physicians create about $2 million in economic impact in their communities, including the people they hire and the equipment and supplies they
buy to run their offices. Having more providers will create better health care access for Mississippians, thereby lowering the cost of health care.

Just this month, I joined the University of Mississippi Medical Center to break ground on a
new expansion of the School of Medicine. With the addition of new classrooms and laboratories, each incoming class of medical students will increase to more than 160. This means Mississippi will graduate more doctors.

The university estimates that by
2025, an expanded medical school would produce 1,000 new physicians and support more than 19,000 new jobs. I ask the Legislature to consider the impact of this medical school on our state and support its growth.

Fight Obamacare; support insurance exchanges

As your Governor, I will:

Fight "Obamacare" and any other unfunded mandates. I will resist all federal unfunded mandates and laws, which I believe are unconstitutional.

Support Insurance Exchanges; allow consumers and businesses to search
for and purchase health insurance in a competitive market. This should not be a subsidy, but a market-based system to combine purchasing power. There should also be no restrictions for purchasing insurance across state borders.